The U.S. Supreme Court agreed in Aug. 2006 to hear a case
where
several states argue that the federal government (in
particular the
Environmental Protection Agency) is failing to enforce a law
requiring
regulation of automobile emissions of greenhouse gasses.
The
states want the federal government to set standards rather
than doing
so themselves, as California has done for many years for other
automobile pollutants. The name of the case is Massachusetts v. Environmental
Protection
Agency. The legal issue is whether the law
requires the
EPA to regulate greenhouse gasses from cars or whether the
agency can
choose not to regulate. One
survey
states:

It is also important to underscore that this case is not
about the
science of climate change. There is no dispute that human
emissions of
greenhouse gases affect the global climate. Rather, the
fundamental
issues are whether the Clean Air Act mandates the sort of
regulatory
action the petitioners seek, and whether these (or any)
petitioners are
entitled to bring these claims in court.

What do you think the Supreme Court will decide? Do
you
think that would be the right decision? Why or why
not? The decision might be handed down before the
paper is
due, in which case you should discuss the reasons for the
decision.